The present invention relates to polymer solutions containing a sulfur-containing or oxygen-containing aromatic polymer, methods of forming such solutions, methods of using such solutions to form conducting polymer articles including films and methods of using such solutions as electrically conducting liquids.
Conductive poly(p-phenylene sulfide) and other chalcogenide polymers rendered conductive by doping with a Lewis Acid halide and other dopants are disclosed in European published patent application Ser. No. 31,444 (July 8, 1981) the subject matter of which is included in U.S. Pat. No. 4,375,427, issued Mar. 1, 1983. Such materials are prepared, in some forms, by introducing a gaseous dopant into the solid polymer pellet.
It is indicated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,375,427 that arsenic trifluoride gas, when introduced with arsenic pentafluoride gas as dopant, increases the doping efficiency.
In the general field of conducting polymers, such as polyphenylene, polyphenylene sulfide, polypyrrole and polyacetylene, it has been heretofore believed impossible to dope one of these polymers to the extent that it becomes a semiconductor or conductor and thereafter dissolve the polymer. In the absence of such solutions, the ability to form certain articles out of conducting polymers, and especially conducting or semiconducting polymer films, is restricted. In particular, doping with a gas after forming a polymer article is known to expand or distort the polymer article. Thus a need exists for techniques to facilitate the production of conductive polymers, to facilitate the doping process and, especially, to form shaped articles such as films and fibers of conducting polymers.